The Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) of st. Lucia has announced the re-establishment of two major national cultural events in its 2009 – 2010 programme of activities. The annual National Arts Festival will take place in November and December 2009. This will be followed by an evening of national awards for the Arts which is being planned as a major activity for January 2010.
The Arts Festival will comprise the following artistic genres: VISUAL ARTS (Oil, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, graphics, mixeds pieces); LITERARY ARTS (Poetry, Prose, Playwriting, Creative Journalism); PERFORMING ARTS (Drama, Dance, Music, Spoken Word); TRADITIONAL ARTS (Folk Theatre, Folk Music etc within the community); ELECTRONIC ARTS (Film, Video Audio, Computer Animation, Computer Creation).
The Awards ceremony, which had hitherto been organized as a highlight of the Arts Festival, will now take place as a major activity during Nobel Laureate Week. The CDF views this as an appropriate time with the focus always being on excellence in the Arts.
The Festival and Awards Ceremony is being organized by a planning committee, which is chaired by Saint Lucia’s Chief Magistrate and CDF Board Director, Floreta Nicholas, herself an artist.
Sub-committees have been established for each of the artistic disciplines and the members of those sub-committees will be visiting the various communities to create interest in the Arts Festival and to encourage participation on such a scale as to make the Arts Festival a veritable National Event.
On Saturday 25th April, a successful workshop was organized for members of the sub-committees during which their roles and responsibilities were defined, the rationale and vision of the National Arts Festival were outlined, and the charting the way forward was discussed.
